<Begin Segment 19>

MN: So you finished three years of college in four years because you went through the summer school system?

LW: Right.

MN: And so you graduated in '46, is that correct?

LW: Yes.

MN: Now, after this, what did you decide to do?

LW: Asbury Seminary was right across the street from the college, and some of my classmates who were deciding for, who had committed themselves for the ministry, were going to Asbury College. And at that time it sounded like an interesting place for me to go, so I entered Asbury, let's see, yeah, after college, that's when I decided to go to seminary. So I did spend another summer, full summer at, in helping my brother, and then the following fall I entered Asbury Seminary for my first year.

MN: How were you able to fund all this education?

LW: Well, by that time we were able to get, my brother was now farming and he was able to have enough to take care of my expenses. So in addition to doing my work study I needed a little bit of cash to carry on the, my expenses, so my brother was able to help me take care of those, those expenses.

MN: Now, you entered the Asbury Theological Seminary School, but you did not finish that school. What happened?

LW: Right. At the end of the spring semester at the seminary I was asked by three men, three singers who were a part of a quartet if I would like to be with them and sing with, in a quartet with them, which I said, "Oh sure, I'd like to sing." I guess they knew that I liked to sing and I guess I had a decent voice, so I practiced with them for a little while and sang one of the parts of the quartet. And they said, "Great. When we come back this fall we want you to sing with us," so that was a final word I got just before I left to go back to Dinuba. They all went their way for the summer. So I worked that summer from, with my brother, helped him as much as I could, and the day before I was to jump on a friend's car and drive back with him to Kentucky I received this letter from the, the head of the quartet saying, "Because we will be singing in various communities in various churches, if they learn that there's a Japanese American member of the quartet we may face hostility and they may not invite us to sing in their church or sing in their community, so we decided that you will not be a part of this." By that time it was too late to make any changes. I had everything prepared, ready to enter my second year in seminary. Quartets were important at that time in the seminary because if they were good quartets, if they were people that could not only speak well, preach sermons and sing, quartets like that could be invited into churches and receive an honorarium, and some of the good quartets were able to pay for their seminary expenses with the honorariums that they received. So that's, that was the importance of being a part of a quartet, so that was cut out from under me.

MN: How did you feel about that whole incident?

LW: Well, I was really upset that I had to, had made all these plans and at the very last minute received this. But I guess at that time I was still, had the attitude of shikata ga nai, the same kind of attitude of acceptance of whatever comes just as we accepted the relocation order. So I said, well, if that's the way they are, that's, that's not, that's their responsibility. And I was able to, I shared that whole experience of being, of rejection with another person who was very sympathetic with me. She was really upset, but she, there was nothing she could do because I refused to really confront these three guys, so in my own mind I said, well, this is, so this is how some people are. Is this what goes on in theological seminary and even those who are committed to the ministry? So I began to have my doubts about that whole, that particular seminary and I decided that this is, that year was going to be my last seminary and I would finish up my work in Berkeley at the theological school right in Berkeley.

MN: So at the Kentucky, at the Asbury theological seminary, you were there for one, is it two years or one year?

LW: Two years.

MN: Two years. And then you went to the theological seminary at Berkeley Baptist Divinity School?

LW: Yes, it was called the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School at that time. The name changed and now it's known as American Baptist Seminary of the West.

MN: And you also went to the Pacific School of Religion?

LW: I took classes there. We were permitted to take classes at any of the seminaries in that area, so I took classes at both (Pacific School of Religion) and Berkeley Baptist Divinity School and I graduated in 1948. I received my degree, I think it was in '48. Yeah.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.